[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1706 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1706
To provide emergency homelessness assistance to respond to the COVID-19
pandemic, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 9, 2021
Ms. Pressley (for herself, Ms. Waters, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Neguse, and Ms.
Ocasio-Cortez) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide emergency homelessness assistance to respond to the COVID-19
pandemic, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Homelessness Assistance
Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. HOMELESSNESS ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORTIVE SERVICES PROGRAM.
(a) Appropriation.--In addition to amounts otherwise made
available, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated,
there are appropriated for fiscal year 2021, $5,000,000,000, as
authorized under title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable
Housing Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.), to remain available
until September 30, 2025, except that amounts authorized under
subsection (d)(3) shall remain available until September 30, 2029, for
the following activities to primarily benefit qualifying individuals or
families:
(1) Tenant-based rental assistance.
(2) The development and support of affordable housing
pursuant to section 212(a) of the Cranston-Gonzalez National
Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12742(a)) (``the Act''
herein).
(3) Supportive services to qualifying individuals or
families not already receiving such supportive services,
including--
(A) activities listed in section 401(29) of the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
11360(29));
(B) housing counseling; and
(C) homeless prevention services.
(4) The acquisition and development of non-congregate
shelter units, all or a portion of which may--
(A) be converted to permanent affordable housing;
(B) be used as emergency shelter under subtitle B
of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act (42 U.S.C. 11371-11378);
(C) be converted to permanent housing under
subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11381-11389); or
(D) remain as non-congregate shelter units.
(b) Qualifying Individuals or Families Defined.--For the purposes
of this section, qualifying individuals or families are those who are--
(1) homeless, as defined in section 103(a) of the McKinney-
Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302(a));
(2) at-risk of homelessness, as defined in section 401(1)
of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
11360(1));
(3) fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human
trafficking;
(4) in other populations where providing supportive
services or assistance under section 212(a) of the Act (42
U.S.C. 12742(a)) would prevent the family's homelessness or
would serve those with the greatest risk of housing
instability; or
(5) veterans and families that include a veteran family
member that meet one of the preceding criteria.
(c) Terms and Conditions.--
(1) Funding restrictions.--The cost limits in section
212(e) (42 U.S.C. 12742(e)), the commitment requirements in
section 218(g) (42 U.S.C. 12749(g)), the matching requirements
in section 220 (42 U.S.C. 12750), and the set-aside for housing
developed, sponsored, or owned by community housing development
organizations required in section 231 of the Act (42 U.S.C.
12771) shall not apply for amounts made available in this
section.
(2) Administrative costs.--Notwithstanding sections 212(c)
and (d)(1) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 12742(c) and (d)(1)), of the
funds made available in this section for carrying out
activities authorized in this section, a grantee may use up to
fifteen percent of its allocation for administrative and
planning costs.
(3) Operating expenses.--Notwithstanding sections 212(a)
and (g) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 12742(a) and (g)), a grantee may
use up to an additional five percent of its allocation for the
payment of operating expenses of community housing development
organizations and nonprofit organizations carrying out
activities authorized under this section, but only if--
(A) such funds are used to develop the capacity of
the community housing development organization or
nonprofit organization in the jurisdiction or insular
area to carry out activities authorized under this
section; and
(B) the community housing development organization
or nonprofit organization complies with the limitation
on assistance in section 234(b) of the Act (42 U.S.C.
12774(b)).
(d) Allocation.--
(1) Formula assistance.--Except as provided in paragraphs
(2) and (3), amounts made available under this section shall be
allocated pursuant to section 217 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 12746)
to grantees that received allocations pursuant to that same
formula in fiscal year 2021, and such allocations shall be made
within 30 days of enactment of this Act.
(2) Technical assistance.--Up to $25,000,000 of the amounts
made available under this section shall be used, without
competition, to make new awards or increase prior awards to
existing technical assistance providers to provide an immediate
increase in capacity building and technical assistance
available to any grantees implementing activities or projects
consistent with this section.
(3) Other costs.--Up to $50,000,000 of the amounts made
available under this section shall be used for the
administrative costs to oversee and administer implementation
of this section and the HOME program generally, including
information technology, financial reporting, and other costs.
(4) Waivers.--Any provision of any statute or regulation
used to administer the amounts made available under this
section (except for requirements related to fair housing,
nondiscrimination, labor standards, and the environment), may
be waived upon a finding that any such waivers or alternative
requirements are necessary to expedite or facilitate the use of
amounts made available in this section.
<all>